Alan Pardew was propped up against a corridor wall but his distinctly edgy body language seemed that of a man traversing a minefield. When the questions came he braced himself. "Is this club capable of making permanent signings?" someone inquired. Newcastle United's manager hesitated. He was being offered a chance to deconstruct Joe Kinnear's tenure as St James' Park's director of football, a period that has seen two transfer windows come and go without a single permanent addition to the squad.

"I've got no comment to make on that one," said Pardew, eventually. Upset as he evidently is at Newcastle's failure to replace Yohan Cabaye, their midfield catalyst who joined Paris Saint-Germain for £20m last week, he knows criticising Kinnear would be tantamount to inviting Mike Ashley to remove him from the manager's office.

Newcastle's owner will be furious with Pardew for overseeing Newcastle's third straight derby defeat against Sunderland but he has hardly helped his manager's cause. At the start of last week, Pardew emphasised that neglecting to replace Cabaye would leave his eighth-placed side "vulnerable". The plea for reinvestment – made both publicly and in private conversations with Ashley and Kinnear – fell on deaf ears and Newcastle's manager has little option but to grin, through gritted teeth, and bear it.

"I'm a professional manager," he said. "If I was in charge, solely, of transfers things might be different but I'm not. I think I've made my opinions very clear this week and all the rest of it is confidential."

The contrast with Sunderland could not be greater. While Gus Poyet's work has been excellent in transforming them from relegation certainties to a side with not only a strong chance of survival but a Capital One Cup final place, the manager has benefited from his owner's unstinting support.

When it became clear Roberto De Fanti had failed as Sunderland's director of football, Ellis Short dismissed him, offering Poyet increased transfer market autonomy. When the manager signalled that signing Liam Bridcutt would be integral to implementing his possession-based manifesto, Short moved heaven and earth to persuade a reluctant Brighton to sell. Sitting in front of the back four, Bridcutt was outstanding on Saturday, his presence reducing Hatem Ben Arfa to anonymity.

Sunderland's owner, like Ashley, has made mistakes but the difference is he has not been afraid to offer corrections – and apologies. Perhaps even more importantly, Short seems to see a bigger picture.

By way of exacerbating Pardew's problems, Poyet's coherent vision contrasted horribly with the Newcastle manager's pragmatic but ill-advised decision to compensate for Cabaye's loss by reverting to a direct approach.

Centred around attempting to hit Shola Ameobi early with long balls, it did not work. "We kept passing it and they just kept kicking it from back to front," said Adam Johnson, who, after scoring seven goals in seven games, must be close to an England recall. "Our aim was to pass them off the pitch and we totally dominated."

Pardew asked Cheik Tioté to mind the influential midfielder Ki Sung-yueng but Newcastle clearly neglected to think about Jack Colback until it was far too late. Liberated by Bridcutt's anchoring presence, Colback shone in central midfield, creating the second goal for Johnson and scoring the third himself.

With Sunderland playing fairly high up the pitch, Poyet's wide players Johnson and Fabio Borini, who opened the scoring from the penalty spot, stifled Davide Santon and Mathieu Debuchy, Pardew's full-backs, preventing them from overlapping. Significantly, almost everything Sunderland did – down to their surprisingly restrained goal celebrations – was beautifully controlled.

Newcastle were rushed in possession. Without Cabaye they made no attempt to play the creative brand of subtle between-the-lines football Pardew has been gradually developing this season. When Pardew replaced Sammy Ameobi, his most imaginative individual, with the clearly far from match fit Borussia Mönchengladbach loanee Luuk de Jong at half-time it smacked of panic.

"Nothing went right for us," said the Newcastle midfielder Vurnon Anita, who conceded the penalty. "It hurts. We wanted to win so badly and it turned into a disaster. Our dressing room is a horrible place. We've let everyone down."

Ashley will presumably blame Pardew for walking – not for the first time – into Poyet's tactical trap but, as someone obsessed with the bottom line, Newcastle's owner should realise he has let down his manager. Badly.